Photo by Russell Fry
Thinking. About Business.
Jessica E. Meyers, owner and president of JEM Group
Managing Ideas
Jessica Meyers at JEM Group
By Barbara Trainin Blank
Declared one of the “Best 50 Women in Business” in 2005, Jessica E. Meyers wants to be defined by ability and success,
not gender. Still, it is noteworthy that a woman is the owner and president of JEM Group, a construction and property
management company serving commercial and residential customers.
JEM Group occupies a brownstone in Harrisburg. But Jessica was born in Storystown in Somerset County, a few miles
from where United Flight 95 went down on 9/11. Her paternal grandfather and cousins were in coal mining, and she calls
herself a “small-town girl.”
In 1983, Jessica and her mother moved to the “big city” of Camp Hill—her parents had divorced when she was 4, and her
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mother took a job with the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue. Her brother, who is a year older than Jessica, remained
with their father. (Jessica also has a half-brother, 26.)
Jessica had mixed feelings about relocating. “It was a big deal to move here. It felt like the big city to someone from a rural
background. But I had no family here or sense of security. It was kind of scary.”
After 2 years at West Virginia University as a political science major, she transferred to Penn State and studied
communications. “I’m pretty confident and outgoing. In second grade I said I was going to be a lawyer and go to Princeton.
But then I decided I didn’t want to be in school [of higher education] for 7 years.”
Her entrepreneurial spirit has remained constant, though. Jessica started babysitting at age 12 and soon after got a job at
the Pennsylvania Bakery in Camp Hill. She’s been working ever since. “I come from a long line of hard workers.”
One professional game changer for her was a summer job at Reynold’s Construction Management Inc., when it was still
H. B. Alexander. It was her first exposure to construction, even though Jessica was “just an office worker at the front desk
and a greeter.”
After the summer, she was offered a job at Reynolds and decided to give it a try. “I liked the people, and it was cool. I got
to go on a job site. It was a great opportunity. I was only 22 then.”
The field experience had come in handy. “I was like a sponge, and [CEO] Rick Reynolds was my mentor.”
Eventually she did business and marketing development in the main office of Reynolds and found it provided a natural
skill set for relationship building. When she left the firm, in fact, Jessica was vice president of business development.
At the time she started with Reynolds, there was some “awkwardness,” as Jessica describes it, in the construction field
around women. When she left 10 years later, that had changed. Women, even as company owners, were more accepted.
Jessica has learned a lot about management from the Vistage Group, a peer group of high-level executives that meets
monthly. “They’re my current source of mentors. We’re all in different businesses, so they offer a fresh perspective on
challenges. It’s a different twist on mentoring.”
While still at Reynolds, Jessica began to realize the need for women and minorities in the construction field. She also saw a
place for general contractors to take on small to medium jobs of $100,0000 to $5–6 million. She actually started JEM while
still there and became certified as a WBE with the Commonwealth. In 2003, JEM Group was incorporated and has grown
to 22 employees.
Although the past few years have been tough with a stagnating economy, JEM has been able to experience growth every
single year. “It’s not because I’m brilliant, but we have a tremendous team, with all hands on deck.”
Jessica also feels good about her community involvement. One highlight was her participation as a Big Sister to a young
Harrisburg woman who graduated high school recently. “People ask how I make time for that. But you find the time. I saw
my Little Sister a few times a month. She wasn’t given a great hand in life.”
Time is definitely more of a premium than it used to be. Jessica got married 4 years ago to David, owner of a public
relations firm, who brought along a stepson, now 12. The couple also had a baby girl, Stella, last August. Rounding out the
family is a 14-year-old Lab, Kasey.
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“Life is very busy. Gus, my stepson, plays baseball five times a week, and the baby is in day care 3 days a week. David
and I are each home one day a week aside from that.”
Jessica is a founding member of the Honorary Alumni Association of Harrisburg University. She was president of the
Harrisburg Young Professionals, a position she was reluctant to take on because of a busy schedule. “It was a great
experience. I went outside my comfort zone, and it helped me grow.”
It also led to marriage. Though she and David knew each other on business terms when she was still at Reynolds, they got
to know each other much better at HYP. “He had been president and pushed me to accept the presidency.”
United Way, for whom she volunteered for years, is “near and dear” to her heart. She is proud of cofounding the
organization’s Bridges Society—an emerging leaders group.
Her own leadership at JEM is participatory. The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of them, she believes. “I
empower employees, so people buy in [to the business] and work hard. I have good ideas, but not all of them. We sit as a
team and throw out everything on the board and then select.”
She sees her role as creating a vision and facilitating its implementation, then “staying out of the way. I lend support, but
I don’t micromanage. I engage employees that way.”
If she has spare time, Jessica loves to read—nonfiction, fiction, and historical fiction. She belongs to a book club that
meets every 6 weeks and has been doing so for 10 years. A recent read was Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. Vistage also
recommends leadership books. Jessica keeps Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, which she calls an
“oldie but goodie,” by her bedside.
She also loves to cook and to work out—health—she belongs to an absolute wellness group at the Y. “If you don’t have
health, you don’t have anything. I make health a priority.”
Travel is another much-enjoyed pastime. “I work hard and play hard.” Central Europe, Napa, and the Caribbean are
beloved destinations, and the family enjoys beach trips, as well.
Then there are sports. She watches football a lot and goes to games—whether it’s Penn State, Notre Dame, the Steelers, or
wherever she happens to be. “I keep a map in the study with pins, marking where we were.”
Catching exhibits in different cities is another pursuit. Both interests are reflected in her office, which features a doll of
basketball legend Allen Iverson, a Penn State cow, and a Steelers bobble head. There are prints from the Art Institute of
Chicago and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.
One sport she’d like to devote more time to is golf. Initially she took it up because she had been told it was good for
business development. But she came to enjoy it for its own sake.
Musical tastes are varied—Top 40, 80. Some classic rock. Whatever her son listens to. But she’ll also go to a classical
symphony or Market Square Concert, even though she’s not a “huge fan.”
With all her interests and success, she is most proud of being a Mom. “It is a life-changing experience. I know that sounds
corny, but when you become a parent, your goals start to change. You want your children to be proud of you.”
She also keeps close contact with her mother, who lives six blocks away, and regularly visits her father, who is still in
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western PA.
Her house and office building are both from the 1920s; she has renovated them and loves their character. “They’re built
to last, resembling the business.”
When she retires, she would like to keep busy passing along her business and professional experience to others—maybe
mentoring, consulting, or chairing a Vistage group.
Meanwhile, she continues to deal with the challenges of the business and industry—“fierce competition” that has only
gotten worse in construction. The city’s economic woes are another concern. But she isn’t too daunted by any of it,
believing that proving value and not just offering “the lowest price” is what keeps her business strong. “Contractors are a
dime a dozen, but we deliver personalized service, and we get a lot of repeat business.”
It’s all about ability.
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